amethyst23

I was advised that students whose PI is a junior faculty should find a co-mentor who has a more senior position for the students' grants to be competitive. Has anyone had to go through the process of finding a co-mentor and if so what did you look for in your co-mentor? (should it be someone whose work overlaps with yours? How often do you interact with them?

Has anyone read any good self-help or guide books related to grad school and pursuing a PhD (particularly in the sciences)? If you could share them, I'd appreciate it!

My PI is inviting a post-doc to give a presentation next week and wants the grad students and technician to take the interviewee out to lunch. Since I've never done this, I was wondering if anyone has done this and if there are any tips/advice that they wouldn't mind sharing. Thanks.

(I posted this under "coursework, advising, and exams" but didn't get a lot of responses...) I was wondering if anyone would be willing to share their experience with the Qualifying Exam. I understand that QE logistics can vary across programs but I'm just looking to get a general sense of what I should anticipate. Thanks to anyone who shares.

I was wondering if anyone in the hard sciences would be willing to share their experience with the Qualifying Exam. I understand that QE logistics can vary across programs but I'm just looking to get a general sense of what I should anticipate. Thanks to anyone who shares.

I'm in my first lab rotation right now and I'm struggling to decide whether this lab is a serious contender for my final pick. I've only been in the lab for 3 weeks but I've made some observations about the lab/people that make me hesitate: - PI calls out students and criticizes them during lab meeting - PI contradicts herself/goes back on her word - the senior lab manager is extremely rude - one of the postdocs is currently trying to develop some assays and doesn't have time to work on the project they designed - the lab uses cell samples that are difficult to isolate because they're rare. this makes for time-consuming cell isolation protocol - people seem to have to stay late to use the FACS machine b/c it's cheaper to use it in the late afternoon/evenings (hints to me that it's a poor lab) - lab environment is very tense but after going out for drinks with the current lab members it was clear that they were all friends and the tension was created by the PI and senior lab manager's presence. Also, everyone was complaining about the lab for hours upon hours when we went out. They'd try to change the subject but 10 minutes later they would go back to complaining. Other things that bothered me before the rotation: - PI is a junior faculty who launched her lab a little more than a year ago so has limited mentoring experience - on NIH reporter it says she only has one grant... she may earn more funding this year though, who knows What drew me to the lab: - PI has published in high impact journals (Nature, Cell Stem Cell) - the research techniques I've most recently used (in my previous lab) are relevant to the techniques used in this lab - the PI's personality clicked with mine really well when we first met and she was really excited to have me in the lab because of my relevant experience I'm aware that my interest in the research is an important factor too and I would say that on a scale of 1-10 (10 = most interested) my interest started out as 7 and now ranks 6.5 because of what I've seen in lab. I don't find their work fascinating as much as I find the techniques they employ really cool. I think I could enjoy it more if the lab environment wasn't so stressful and if the PI was a better mentor. I'd appreciate it if someone could give their input on what they would do if they were in my shoes. I'm not going to slack off for the rest of the rotation but I'd like to decide whether I should invest any time over the course of the year to prepare for becoming a grad student in the lab.

Sounds good and I agree with what everyone has said. I have something in mind for an elevator speech but I need to figure out how to balance the details of the projects I've worked on. I've been working in a new lab for 5 weeks so I'm certainly going to mention this but in my SOP I only discussed the projects I did before joining my current lab. For these quick speeches, should I provide more details about the lab I am in now or expand on the labs I mentioned in my SOP? Also, the work of the lab I am in now doesn't really relate to my research interests so unfortunately I will not be able to make a strong connection between these two things....

Hmm, ok. I'm trying to avoid reiterating my SOP so I thought I could briefly mention that I've competed for some sort of research funding.

When describing your past research experience during interviews, would it be helpful to name funding sources or does that qualify as unnecessary extraneous info?

Hi guys, I'm slightly worried about my GRE writing score.. I'm seeing that most members who are posting here have a 4.5 or above and I scored a 4.0 (56%) the two times I took it... My most recent scores are Q 158 (71%) and V 162 (89%) and my last scores were Q 161 (80%) and V 157(74%). Even though my Q score decreased, I'm sending both set of scores to all schools hoping they'll take whichever set they deem best. Some schools allow you to report the best you earned in each section in the on-line self-reporting so I'm hoping they'll consider my improvement in the verbal section. The programs I'm applying to are UW MCB, UCSD Biomed, UCLA, USC, UC Irvine, Northwestern, UIUC, and CU Boulder. I'm aware of the cutoff for all these schools but they usually don't indicate the requirement for the Writing section.. I have ~3 years of research experience (at my undergrad institution, a med school research campus, and a governmental lab) and an overall GPA of 3.498. I'm taking a year off right now and just started job hunting, and hope to start volunteering in an immuno lab next month to keep myself busy in the mean time. Does anyone know how schools look at the writing scores?

Hmm alright... I talked to my academic advisor and she recommended that I leave it out for the same reason that it's only one grade. Right now I'm leaning towards not mentioning it because it does seem to weaken my SOP. I may just call the programs and ask how they prefer me to address it. Thanks for all of your input

I posted about this issue a while ago but wanted to get additional input before I actually make a decision. I have a "gap" my academic record --the first physics class ever I took was in college, and I got a C+. But the subsequent three physics classes, which went all the way up to intro to quantum, I earned A's. I've been told that this isn't too significant of an issue and that I shouldn't draw attention to it in my statement of purpose. What I am thinking about doing is having my academic advisor, who I consulted while I was struggling, comment on this in the letter of rec. But another thing I want to do is just briefly explain it in a sentence in an endnote, not in the body of the SOP. Should I just request my advisor to address this and leave it to them or would it be better to briefly mention it in the SOP? I don't want to weaken the competitiveness of my application because I neglected to address this inconsistency.

Do graduate programs at specialized institutes like the Buck Institute and medical campuses in general have very small class sizes? I just found out the graduate program I'm applying to at U Washington Seattle's School of Medicine accepts only 6 to 10 people, and their applicant pool is over 120. Cedars Sinai has an incoming class of only 8 people this year.. pretty alarmed

A little more than month ago I emailed a PI asking whether she would be taking graduate students in Fall 2015 because I was planning to apply to her university and her work interests me, but she never responded.. I know a lack of response is common to these types of emails, but should I shoot her a follow-up email? I'm hesitant because her lab is my top choice at that institution and I don't want to get on her bad side.. Any advice?

I studied for a month and took 6 practice tests through ETS and Manhanttan. On the actual test I scored the highest predicted by the practice tests which were: V 157 (74%); Q 161 (80%). Since I did score the highest possible predicted by the practice tests, I'm not sure if I want to retake it again. I'm going to begin applying to programs next month and I'm still vacillating on whether I'll take the biochem subject test which I still need to study for, in addition to reading potential P.I.s' publications and contacting them. All of this takes time and I want to make the best investment since there is not much time before applications open. My overall GPA is 3.498 and I have 3 years of research experience. I'm planning to apply to the biochemistry program at the following schools: Northwestern U, UIUC, UC Irvine, UCLA, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, UW, and also the biological sciences program at UCSD. Given the competitiveness of the target programs, the amount of time that is left until apps open, and other priorities I have, is it worth it to retake the GREs?